2015 Clark Portrait 5p Coin
The 2015 Clark Portrait 5p is a 5p coin struck for circulation with 536.6 million made. Value band: face value. Here is how to recognize it, what makes one worth more and what to check on yours.
- Year
- 2015
- Circulation mintage
- 536,600,000
- Value band
- Face value
- Composition
- Nickel-plated steel
Original illustration of the coin's shape and metal. Tap to flip. Not a picture of the actual design.
Face value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 2015 Clark Portrait 5p worth?
536.6 million were made, so the 2015 Clark Portrait 5p is easy to find. A circulated one is worth face value; collectors pay a little more only for uncirculated coins and coins still in their original Royal Mint pack.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition
- A sets-only date
- A genuine mint error
For market prices, look at recent sold results for the same coin in the same condition, not asking prices.
Quick answers
- Is the 2015 Clark Portrait 5p rare?
- No. 536.6 million were made, so circulated examples are worth face value.
- How many 2015 Clark Portrait 5p coins were made?
- 536,600,000 were struck for circulation.
- What is the 2015 Clark Portrait 5p made of?
- Nickel-plated steel. It weighs 3.25 g and measures 18 mm.
- Is the 2015 Clark Portrait 5p still legal tender?
- Yes. The current-size 5p is legal tender, for payments of up to 5 pounds in 5p and 10p coins.
The 2015 5p coin in context
In 2015 British coins received the fifth and last portrait of the Queen's reign. The new likeness was by Jody Clark, a member of the Royal Mint's own engraving team. It replaced Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait after seventeen years. Clark's version shows the Queen as she looked in her late eighties, a more mature face than any earlier coin portrait. It went on to be used on every 5p struck until the end of her reign.
Because the change came partway through the year, 2015 5ps exist with both portraits. The Royal Mint struck 163,000,000 with Ian Rank-Broadley's portrait and 536,600,000 with Clark's, so the new design makes up more than three quarters of the year. The Clark total is one of the biggest of the shield period, behind only 2014. From there output fell to 305,740,000 in 2016 and 220,515,000 in 2017 before the sets-only year of 2018. In hindsight 2015 marks the last very large year of 5p production, before card payments began to bite into the demand for small change.
How to recognize it
Clark's portrait shows the Queen in the George IV State Diadem, the circlet of diamonds and pearls she wore on the way to the State Opening of Parliament, with JC below the neck. The legend reads ELIZABETH II D G REG F D with the date. On the reverse nothing changed: Matthew Dent's section of the Royal Shield with FIVE PENCE. The coin is nickel-plated steel, 18 mm and 3.25 g with a milled edge. It is magnetic. The quickest way to tell the two 2015 coins apart is the initials under the neck: JC for Clark and IRB for Rank-Broadley.
The other side carries Jody Clark's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced in 2015 and the last of her reign.
2015 Clark Portrait 5p by the numbers
In mintage terms the 2015 Clark Portrait 5p ranks 43rd lowest of 46 5p dates and varieties from 1968 to 2023. The next scarcer is the 1992 5p (453.2 million); the next more common is the 1991 5p (725 million).
For scale, the most common is the 1990 5p with 1.63 billion, about 3 times as many. The scarcest is the 1977 5p with 24.3 million, 22 times fewer than this one.
Compared with the dates around it, the 2015 output was 1.6 times fewer than 2014 and 1.8 times the 2016 figure. Other 2015 5p coins: 2015 Rank-Broadley Portrait 5p (163 million).
Over the 2010s the Mint produced 3.37 billion 5p coins across 11 dates and varieties; the 2015 Clark Portrait 5p accounts for 16% of that.
What to check on your 2015 Clark Portrait 5p
- Confirm the date and the variety (clark portrait). Most dates are common, so the date and any variety decide whether a coin is worth setting aside.
- Try a magnet: 2015 5p coins are nickel-plated steel and stick to it.
- Look at the surfaces under a light. Coins from sets have unbroken luster and color; change-worn coins are dull and scuffed.
- Never clean it. Rubbing or dipping strips the original color and leaves fine scratches.
Neither 2015 5p is scarce. The Clark version is the commoner of the two by a wide margin and worn examples are face value. Its appeal is as the first date of the final portrait of Elizabeth II, which makes it a natural partner for the Rank-Broadley coin of the same year. Anyone building a full run should make sure they have both. Bright coins are easy to find in change, so there is no need to settle for a scratched one.
Matthew Dent's shield five pence (2008 to 2022)
In 2008 the Royal Mint replaced the reverses of all six coins from 1p to 50p for the first time since decimal designs were introduced. Matthew Dent won the open competition with an idea that turned the coins into a puzzle. Each one carries a single section of the Royal Shield of Arms. Laid side by side in the right order, they form the whole shield, while the round pound of the period showed it complete on one coin. The 5p's section comes with FIVE PENCE written in words and no numeral at all, so the value has to be read rather than glanced at.
The metal changed next. From 2011 the 5p has been made of nickel-plated steel instead of solid cupronickel, mainly to cut the cost of nickel. The new coin keeps the 18 mm size and 3.25 g weight but is slightly thicker. Its steel core also makes it magnetic. A magnet is the quickest way to tell a 2011 or later coin from an earlier one. The portrait changed in 2015, when Jody Clark's likeness of the Queen, signed JC, replaced Ian Rank-Broadley's, so that year comes in two versions.
Most shield 5ps were made by the hundred million, with a peak of 885,004,520 in 2014. Then the use of cash fell away. The 2018 coins were made only for sets and output slid through the pandemic years to 28,000,000 in 2021, the lowest of the shield design. Apart from 2018, which you are unlikely to meet in change, none are rare, but the later dates are noticeably harder to find than the early ones. Check any 2015 coin for the portrait. Keep the cleanest 2019 to 2022 coins you come across, since those are the gaps collectors are filling.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | 5 pence |
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
| Year | 2015 |
| Circulation mintage | 536,600,000 |
| Composition | Nickel-plated steel |
| Weight | 3.25 g |
| Diameter | 18 mm |
| Shape | Round |
| Edge | Milled |
| Portrait | Clark |
Other 2015 5p coins
| Coin | Circulation mintage | Value band |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 Rank-Broadley Portrait 5p Coin | 163,000,000 | Face value |
Frequently asked questions
Which portrait is on a 2015 5p?
Look under the Queen's neck. The newer portrait is signed JC for Jody Clark and shows her in a diadem. The earlier one is signed IRB for Ian Rank-Broadley and shows her in a tiara. Both have the same shield reverse.
Was the Clark portrait the last one of the Queen?
Yes. Jody Clark's portrait stayed on the 5p until 2022. The next change came with King Charles III, whose coins dated 2023 carry Martin Jennings's portrait, facing left instead of right.
Mintage figures: Five pence (British coin) (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from Royal Mint figures. How we build these pages.